What Is Love - Barlow/Williams

Part 2: Where We Are

Summary: Dinner out, and dessert in! ;) (See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Where We Are...

"Mum, you don't need to do that!" Gary looked bemusedly at his own mother cutting out his and Robbie's 'coming out' article from the newspaper, before watching her securely stick it into one of the many scrap book albums she's filled with her son's accomplishments.

"I want to – I've been meaning to for months now, after all - this recognises an incredibly important time in your life Gary!" she spoke calmly and so matter-of-factly that it left Gary confused in a way he hadn't anticipated, but she continued, "It was a major turning point! It took great courage to do what you and Robbie did, and that needs to be documented".

Gary was still a little unsure, it was great that his mum had seemed to so easily accept him and his life choices, but that also meant his mum had accepted how her son had outright lied to her for over 20 years, and if he knew his mum, that didn't seem quite right.

"Mum – are you sure you are ok with this?! I mean I'd understand it if you felt hurt and somewhat betrayed, especially since I kept it secret for so long, but you have to understand it wasn't that I didn't want to tell you...it's just –"

"Darling", she interrupted, "my darling boy, but you didn't keep it secret. I'm your mother, and I assure you, there's no keeping secrets from your mother!"

Gary looked confusedly at the amused smile on the older woman's face, "I don't understand?"

She sighed deeply, "I knew Gary, I always knew. I think I knew even before you really did! The point is, I've had plenty of time to get used to the idea of you being gay; and believe it or not, I may be old, but I am a modern woman who has a gay son, she is incredibly proud with, and nothing could ever change that."

Gary smiled, he was so lucky to have her, she had dedicated her life to her children, and supported him through everything. The absolute worst part of all this was thinking he had hurt her by keeping her in the dark, it had kept him up more than just a few nights before the article had come out. Yet, as he looked deep into the aging lady's warm eyes, he knew she was telling the truth and it made him so relieved and happy.

"Thanks mum – you are an amazing lady, you know that righ'?"

"Of course I do dear, now be useful and pass me that tape, this corner's lifting up a bit".

Gary smiled and looked down at the news article that showed a large picture of Gary and Robbie taken a couple of years ago, both looking into each other's eyes, and he inwardly chuckled, "You should know, Rob hates that photo they used, something about it showing up his grey hair!"

The older woman chuckled, "Yep, sounds like Robbie alrigh'!"

Gary smiled and hugged his mum tightly, he was so happy, he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

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"Babe, the dogs! Have you taken them out yet?!"

Gary was getting anxious about the time, they were already late and he hated being late. Robbie was currently nowhere to be seen, but considering he could still hear the PS4 console still on but abandoned, in the living room, he imagined Robbie had just finally realised how late they were getting and was now currently panic-dressing upstairs. With no reply offered, Gary just rolled his eyes and grabbed the dogs' leads, they were going to be so late for this dinner, which meant the paps would already be out and about on the lookout by the time they would get to the restaurant.

That was all they needed, on tonight of all nights.

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As soon as they were back through the door that cool night, Robbie ran up to meet the dogs who were already enthusiastically greeting them, in 3 seconds flat he was already on the floor playfully wrestling with them. Gary took his coat off and chucked the keys in the dish on the sideboard, before he surveyed with a smile, the scene before him.

Gary walked into the kitchen, "It was nice of them to keep the table for us like that, wasn't it?" he called back as he switched the kettle on.

"Well, of course they kept the table - it's us after all!" He replied while still wrestling with the dogs, before he paused a second and his face turned into a frown, "Or is that a dig at me? I said I was sorry about the time, we got a table – so what does it matter?!"

Gary didn't answer, and it was a full 2 minutes before he came back into the living room with two hot steaming mugs of tea, "I'm not having a go, I was simply saying it was nice of them, it was a nice place, that's all".

"Oh, ok – yeah it was." He stopped playing with the dogs and took both mugs from Gary's hands, meeting a small confused look from his lover. "But do you what's even better?" Robbie said with a coy smile, which Gary met and quickly mimicked - he had an idea where this was going, "what I wonder?" he simply asked.

Robbie beamed before grabbing his boyfriend around the waist and dragging him down on to the floor with him. Crawling on top of him and pinning him to the floor, he breathed into Gary's ear and whispered the words, "Where we are now".

The slowly spoken words sent tingles down Gary's spine and he closed his eyes to intensify the sensation. He was however, quickly shaken from his blissful reverie by Robbie's lips that wasted no time in smothering Gary with thousands of light kisses all over, before simultaneously tickling him affectionately; two actions that left him desperately fighting for breath, in a very good way!

Already lustfully intoxicated, he looked however, slightly forlornly over at his second love – the neglected mugs of tea, but when a swift lick to his ear caught him off guard he was very much persuaded to turn all his attention to his horny boyfriend instead.

The two untouched mugs of tea soon went cold.

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Author Notes:

Sorry, this is only a short chapter, but I've already written the next chapter and aim to hopefully update every Friday from now on. In next week's chapter Gary is busy with work, which only leaves Robbie time to start feeling insecure about their relationship.